Mayo woman receives business accolade
The Mayo woman was chosen as the Irish Times Business Person of the Month for May.
Mayo woman Derville Rowland has been named as The Irish Times Businessperson of the Month.
The Castlebar native is a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Ireland.
She was recently appointed to the prestigious role of executive board member of the European Union’s (EU) newly-established Anti-Money Laundering Authority (Amla), based in Frankfurt.
Amla will co-ordinate national authorities to supervise the application of legislation on anti-money laundering and the countering of financing of terrorism.
First conceived in 2021, the new agency effectively starts its work this summer, by consulting on implementing rules and appointing an executive director.
It expects to have a staff of 80 by the end of this year before gradually ramping up its activities in 2026. Its staff numbers are expected to increase to 430 by the end of 2027 and it will be fully operational and begin its direct supervision work in January 2028.
As noted by Central Bank of Ireland governor Gabriel Makhlouf, Amla’s “mission is critical to the integrity of the EU’s financial system”.
He said Rowland’s appointment reflected her “significant contribution to the Central Bank’s public service mission over the last 20 years”.
In reacting to her appointment, Rowland said she was “acutely conscious of the urgency of Amla’s task to make our financial system cleaner, our economy more resilient” by ensuring that “money laundering and terrorist financing are systematically combatted”.
A barrister by profession, Rowland spent 21 years with the Central Bank before moving to Amla.
A daughter of Nancy and the late Jimmy Rowland, formerly of Main Street, she had been serving as Deputy Governor Consumer and Investor Protection at the Central Bank for the past number of years, having been a member of the staff of the financial regulator for two decades.
